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Finding the right people to work in commercial real estate brokerage can be challenging process at the best of times for any manager or team leader. Whilst many new sales people will claim to have the required skills, the motivation and professionalism, the reality is quite different in most circumstances; a lot of people struggle with the personal disciplines required producing results in client contact, listings, and commissions.

Systems bring sustained results in the property industry; luck has very little to do with it. If you put in the effort and watch what is happening in the market around you, opportunities can be seen. Actions taken then have greater meaning and relevance. Actions should be taken to a plan and process.

The Skills of Top Commercial Brokers and Agents

So the message is that it’s not an easy industry to get results from if you are not prepared to work hard and you don’t put in the personal effort in an organized way. Let’s look at what the top people do and think. The best sales people bring to the profession a variety of personal skills and the most common ones are these:

Organization – they know how to keep themselves under control from a business perspective and they manage their day with great attention to detail. They allocate their time based on desired outcomes; in other words they try not to waste their time.

Personal focus – some tasks in our industry are difficult, time consuming or complex, and on that basis a good level of personal focus is required to help maintain momentum. Get the difficult things done at the beginning of the day and before the office opens and the telephone starts ringing.

Database practices – every agent or broker should have a database that is complex and accurate. That database is the basis of finding and attracting new business. Over time people’s records and circumstances will change in relation to property so records will need to be updated by regular ongoing contact. Constant contact by the broker to the right people in their database will help maintain the better records for future property opportunity.

Mental and physical fitness – some of the deals that we work on are quite detailed and may take many months to shape to finality. On that basis clear thinking will be helped by personal fitness. A clear mind sees things that others miss. A questioning mind helps a person find opportunities in the realities of the property market.

Good communication skills – most property transactions today are quite complex. When you think about communication, there are many things to cover off on and to be excellent at. Listing presentations, inspections, marketing, negotiations, and prospecting are all factors of communication. You can practice each of those special elements of communication.

Goals and targets – like it or not there are plenty of difficult things to do every day. They are all distracting and can take you away from the things that matter. A clear set of goals and targets that are points of focus and are tracked will help any agent or broker stay on the right path.

You could say that these six factors are the foundations of any sales career; perhaps they are. We do work in a profession that can bring in great rewards for the effort undertaken. Are you up to the challenge?